Dual use office and leisure chair

ABSTRACT

A dual use office and leisure chair is provided that overcomes the shortcomings of existing technology. A chair back is provided that is hingeably attached with the handrails. Installation of a pneumatic rod and adjustment device hingeably attached to the chair back enables adjustment to different inclination angles for the chair back, the inclination angle is selectively fixed at any angle within the travel of the pneumatic rod. Simple adjustment, easy use, and long lifetime make it possible to achieve office and leisure dual use for the chair.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority benefit of PRC utility modelapplication 2010291800437 filed Feb. 4, 2010, the contents of which areincorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention in general relates to a chair, and in particularto a dual use office and leisure chair.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An office chair now is one of the necessary office supplies for anorganization, but the traditional office chair only provides chair seatvertical adjustment relative to the chair legs. The inability to adjustthe chair back from one fixed angle has limited the usefulness of suchchairs and contributes to worker fatigue. When an office worker feelstired, there is a tendency to recline his upper body to relax, but theconventional unadjustable chair back angle cannot satisfy the need of aworker for relaxation.

To respond to this limitation, many of these types of chairs haveemerged with chair backs constructed from certain flexible materials, orare installed with flexure devices. In this way, when a chair occupanthabitually reclines their upper body, the chair back adapts differentangles; and when a chair occupant sits upright, the chair back is alsoable to recover the base angle through an elastic force. These kinds ofchairs in part meet a chair occupant's needs, but these other chairsalso have shortcomings in that: 1) the flexure lifetime is short and thechair back resilience declines with usage and finally disappears,leaving the chair back sagging thereby limiting the utility andaesthetics of the chair; and 2) a chair occupant must apply and maintaina backward force to recline the chair; once the applied force isremoved, the chair back recovers to the upright base angle.

Thus, there exists a need for a chair with a chair back having anadjustable and selectively lockable angle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A dual use office and leisure chair is provided that overcomes theshortcomings of existing technology. A chair back is provided that ishingeably attached with the handrails. Installation of a pneumatic rodand adjustment device hingeably attached to the chair back enablesadjustment to different inclination angles for the chair back, theinclination angle is selectively fixed at any angle within the travel ofthe pneumatic rod. Simple adjustment, easy use, and long lifetime makeit possible to achieve office and leisure dual use for the chair.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is further illustrated with respect to thefollowing nonlimiting drawings.

FIG. 1 is the schematic diagram of three-dimensional structure of aninventive chair;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the inventive chair of FIG. 1 with anupright chair back;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the inventive chair of FIG. 1 withthe chair back depicted in a reclined position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective schematic diagram of the connection for thecover, connectors, and pneumatic rod and adjustment device shown in FIG.1; and

FIG. 5 is the cutaway view of the connector for FIG. 4 to show thewinding sheet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention has utility as a chair with a moveable chair backhingeably attached to two handrails through shafts. The installation ofpneumatic rod and adjustment device hingeably attached with the chairback enables adjustment to different inclination angles α of the chairback that can simultaneously be selectively locked at a desiredinclination angle α. Simple adjustment, easy use, and long lifetime makeit possible to achieve both office and leisure dual use to the inventivechair. Typical range of inclination angle α range from 80 to 140 degreesand preferably are between 90 and 120 degrees. The minimum angle α istypically between 80 and 95 degrees, while the maximal angle α istypically between 100 and 140 degrees.

An inventive dual use office and leisure chair includes the chair legs,a chassis, a sitting board, and two handrails attached to the seat. Themoveable chair back is hingeably attached to the bounding two handrailsthrough a shaft. Opening slots are provided for fastener attachment. Acover is provided for rivet fixing in the shaft the described sittingboard to anchor one end of the chair back angle to adjusting pneumaticrod via a hinged connector. A clearance fitting for the pneumatic rod isinstalled in the described hinged connector. The pneumatic rod free endis thus hingeably attached to a transition connecting board that issecured on the moveable chair back. The other end of the pneumatic rodis in contact with the side of the winding sheet which in turn is inconnection with the adjustment device.

The inventive dual use office and leisure chair has an adjustment deviceincluding a control button, pulling line, and a button bracket. Thebutton bracket is installed with the control button secured to thesitting board with fasteners. One end of the pulling line is secured inconnection with the control button, and the other end of the pullingline is in connection with the winding sheet. Four chassis fixed blocksare installed between the chassis and the sitting board. Optionally,another pneumatic rod is installed between the chair legs and thechassis. The gas bar of the second pneumatic rod is in fixed connectionwith the chassis; the adjustment handle for the second pneumatic rodcontrols the lifting of the sitting board rod is installed on thechassis.

The present invention is depicted in exemplary form with respect toFIGS. 1-5. An inventive dual use office and leisure chair includes chairlegs 1, chassis 2, sitting board 3, and two handrails 4 fixed on theboard 3. The moveable chair back 5 is hingeably attached to the twohandrails 4 through shafts 6. The shafts 6 have an aperture 301 for thehinged attachment. Similar shafts 6′ secure the handrails 4 to thesitting board 3. Cover 7 is rivet fixed to the sitting board 3. Thepneumatic rod 8 preferably extends from the under surface of the cover 7through the connector 9 and extends from the underside 303 of the board3. Clearance fit for the rod 801 of the pneumatic rod 8 is installed tothe connector 9. The gas bar 802 is hinged with the transitionconnecting board 10 fixed on the moveable chair back 5 with the frontend hingeably attached inside the described connectors 9. The back endof the gas bar 802 in contact with the side of the winding sheet 12which in turn is in connection with the adjustment device 11.

The adjustment device 11 includes a control button 1101, pulling line1102, and the button bracket 1103. The button bracket 1103 installedwith the control button 1101 is secured to the sitting board 3 withfasteners, such as screws. One end of the pulling line 1102 is in fixedconnection with the control button 1101, and the other end of thepulling line 1102 is in connection with the winding sheet 12. Chassisfixed blocks 13 are installed between the chassis 2 and sitting board 3.While four fixed blocks 13 are depicted, it is appreciated that one ofskill in the art can use a number of blocks other than four.

A second pneumatic rod 14 is optionally installed between the chair legs1 and the chassis 2. A gas bar 1401 of the pneumatic rod 14 is in fixedconnection with the chassis 2. An adjustment handle 15 controls thelifting of the pneumatic rod 14 and is installed on the describedchassis 2.

The sitting board 3 has an opening slot 302 to provide relative angulartravel between the moveable chair back 5 and the sitting board 3.

During use, when a user wants to recline the moveable chair back 5, thecontrol button 1101 is activated to drive the pull wire 1102 and pullthe winding sheet 12 so as to compress the gas bar 802 of the pneumaticrod 8 into the rod 801 while imposing a force against the moveable chairback 5. The moveable chair back 5 is thus pivoted about the shaft 6 onthe handrails 4 to change the inclination angle α. The backwardreclining inclination angle is determined by the telescopic travel ofgas bar 802 of the pneumatic rod 8; when the angle is properly adjusted,the user releases the control button 1101 to selectively lock therelative position between the chair back 5 and the sitting board 3. Themoveable chair back 5 is returned to a minimal travel upright andoriginal angle by pressing the control button 1101, and under the actionof compressed air from the pneumatic rod 8, the gas bar 802 extendswithout imposition of force on the moveable chair back 5 to be reset tothe original upright angle. It is appreciated that the pneumatic rod 8is readily mounted to make the maximal inclination angle (recline) thecompressed air released position of pneumatic rod 8. Control of theoptional pneumatic rod 14 through the adjustment handle 15 is readilyperformed to adjust the height of the sitting board 3 which is inconnection with the chassis 2.

The foregoing description is illustrative of particular embodiments ofthe invention, but is not meant to be a limitation upon the practicethereof. The following claims, including all equivalents thereof, areintended to define the scope of the invention.

1. A chair comprising: a plurality of chair legs; a chassis supported bysaid plurality of chair legs; a sitting board mounted to said chassisupward and away from said chassis; a pair of handrail rails mounted tosaid sitting board; a chair back hingeably mounted to said pair ofhandrails to define an inclination angle; and a pneumatic rod inmechanical communication between said sitting board and said chair backfor selectively changing and locking said inclination angle.
 2. Thechair of claim 1 wherein said sitting board has an open slot toaccommodate travel of said pneumatic rod.
 3. The chair of claim 2further comprising a cover mounted to said sitting board and pivotallysecuring a connector to a first end of said pneumatic rod.
 4. The chairof claim 3 wherein said pneumatic rod has a gas bar extending from asecond end of said pneumatic rod that is pivotally connected to atransition connecting board secured to said chair back.
 5. The chair ofclaim 1 further comprising an adjustment device in mechanicalcommunication with said pneumatic rod for operating said pneumatic rod.6. The chair of claim 5 wherein said adjustment device further comprisesa control button connected to a pulling line, said pulling lineoperating a winding sheet that in turn controls actuation of saidpneumatic rod.
 7. The chair of claim 1 further comprising a plurality ofchassis blocks intermediate between said chassis and said sitting board.8. The chair of claim 1 further comprising a second pneumatic rodmounted in mechanical communication between said plurality of legs andsaid chassis for selectively lifting said chassis relative to saidplurality of legs.
 9. The chair of claim 8 further comprising anadjustment handle coupled to said second pneumatic rod for operation ofsaid second pneumatic rod.
 10. The chair of claim 1 wherein saidpneumatic rod extends from an underside of said sitting board.
 11. Thechair of claim 1 wherein the inclination angle has a minimum angle ofbetween 80 and 95 degrees.
 12. The chair of claim 1 wherein theinclination angle has a maximum angle of between 100 and 140 degrees.